1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to code date application devices and more particularly to an automatic code date application device for applying code dates to a plurality of sequentially moving irregularly shaped packages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Food products for the most part require the application of a critical date on the finished product package, usually a "sell-by" date that conveys to the purchaser/consumer the need to consume the packaged article prior to that date. These dates are usually manually applied with a stamp or other appropriate apparatus manipulated by an operator. Such an operation is obviously expensive because of labor costs and in many cases causes injuries in the form of carpal tunnel or other afflictions attributable to the constant motion of the operator's arm and hand in applying the code to the package.
Manual application has for the most part been necessary because many food packages are irregularly shaped to conform to the general configuration of the product. For example, hams are usually shrink-wrapped with appropriate packaging material so that the final package follows the contour of the ham surface. Applying uniform code dates automatically to such products is extremely difficult in that the products are not uniformly configured and there has been no discernable location where the code can be applied automatically at the same location with any degree of consistency.
Many attempts to automate the code date application process have been made by varying locations where the code application step would take place, however this has proved to be expensive and again not reliable to any comfortable degree.
Thus, there is a need to automate the process of applying code dates to food products, particularly those of irregular shape, in order to increase the efficiency of the operation, reduce labor costs and avoid personal injuries to operators that normally occur in such operations. The present invention has been developed with that objective in mind.